Why ratings are more important than ever

Looking to spread a little good news about your product? Look for positive reviews and the consumers who share them. According to a recent Porter Novelli report, consumers are most likely to rate products and services that they are happy with; not those which under-performed. Although brands need to look for the bad as well as the good, it makes sense to focus on the consumers who are posting good to turn them into loyal consumers.

Porter Novelli's 2011 ConsumerStyles report finds that 60% of Millenials and 56% of Gen Xers are more likely to rate items they like than those they don't like; similar findings from the older demographics. More than 40% of Seniors are more likely to rate liked-items than not liked.

"Customers expect, and are already participating in a two way dialogue," said Daina Middleton, Performics CEO. "It's imperative for marketers to listen to customers and adopt strategies that engage them in every channel of their media mix - across all platforms, devices and screens."

Data from a recent ROI Research/Performics reports underlines the importance of this kind of social media conversation. Their research finds that 74% of entertainment consumers share their experiences on social media, more than half of socnet users 'follow' travel brands to learn about deals/offers and just over 40% indulge in car talk before making a new car purchase. More than one-third of survey respondents say they talk about purchases on social media specifically to talk express their satisfaction.

How can you take advantage? One cost-effective measure is to include social media feeds - Twitter, Facebook, Google +, etc. - into your website. The new vSites option from vFlyer is one way to revamp a website to include social media. The platform allows businesses to create websites with social media integrations, to add rich media quickly and to manage sites at a low cost.